6.5

The Pixar movie Brave opened to somewhat mixed reviews. The film, while decent, had the Pixar name to live up to and there were some that didn't feel it met the bill. So what to make of the Pixar backed game of the same name? It's a lot like its movie counterpart from which it draws inspiration. It's not half bad, but it lacks the polish that you would expect from a high end video game. The game's graphics are great and you feel like you are playing within the movie at times. The gameplay is rather basic and bland and a co op mode never really takes off like it could. Brave feels like a game made for children with certain adult elements tossed into it to keep things interesting. I guess you could say that about most Pixar movies though too.

Perhaps the biggest curveball the game tosses at you is the fact that the game presents a slightly different story than what you saw in the movie theater. All of the main characters are still there, but it's just told from a different perspective. We won't spoil it for you, but let's just say that the story is actually one of the game's high points. Perhaps a bit damning to Pixar, we actually liked it better than the plot of the main movie. It should be noted though that the game doesn't last much longer than that of a movie, you can beat the main storyline in about 4 hours. That's fine if you paid $10 to see it in the theater. It's not so fine if you just dropped $50 at the local game store.

The game does offer collectibles and other unlockables to add replay value but it's really not enough to make up for the short campaign. Perhaps this will be a better purchase for your child if you happen to find the game in the bargain bin someday.

Graphics are themed after the movie and it does at times make it easy to get lost in the animation. If you take a closer look though, you'll see that the textures don't really stand up to the best titles of this generation. Some clipping issues exist, and some textures are just muddy.

The game does offer a co op mode for a friend to play along but it's here where you can see that the game was designed with a younger audience in mind. The 2nd player has infinite lives, you'll just keep coming back from the dead. Playing Co op makes a very easy game even easier. The gameplay, co op or solo, is extremely linear, moving from one environment to the next. There's not much skill to combat, it's more of a button mashing affair than anything.

Brave is a video game designed to let your child play through an alternate version of the movie storyline. It shows Pixar charm occasionally, but it's mostly just another poor movie adaption.

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